Breaking Down
by Daughter of Rhea
Summary: What if Ethan wasn't entirely human? What if he was part netherling?And one day he just... snapped? Boundaries will be crossed, a new world will be explored, and history will be explained. This has crossover elements from the book Splintered, by A. G. Howard, but there is no category for splintered, so in the books it goes.
1. Chapter 1

_Ethan:_

_Can I tell you something? Watching the girl you love get taken away from you hurts. Getting thrown out of her house hurts. Having her cousin tell you you're being replaced hurts. Watching her ride away on the back of another guy's motorcycle hurts. Basically it hurts. A lot. Having a friend is good. The love of your life telling you to be happy with a purely platonic friend hurts. Being pulled into her head hurts, especially while she's dancing with someone else. I'm so tired of seeing all of this, my nightmares that she's being ripped away from me. But Lena isn't being ripped away. She's walking away. Somehow, that hurts so much more. And here I am, useless, just sitting in a tree. I'm high up enough in this old oak that they can't see me from the road. But I can see them. Them being Ridley, John, and Lena. I can hear them too._

"So what are you going to do about Ethan? Your little mortal ex-boyfriend." John asks. Lena lets out a laugh.

"Oh, you know. Ignore him. Maybe he'll finally leave me alone." She snickers. There's something off about the way she says it, but at this point I'm too angry to care.

"Only you would pick a freak of a mortal for a boyfriend L! You had to have the one with the most baggage didn't you?" Ridley laughs.

A smirk crosses my face. _If only they knew, _I think. Being a halfling, no matter how highly regarded in the netherling world, is hard. Hiding part of yourself is hard. And I'm fed up with hiding. I watch as the trio comes ever closer before I swing off of the branch I'm sitting in, dangling for several moments. Then I drop, timing it so I'll land several steps in front of them. I give them a feral smirk, letting my netherling side reign loose.

"Surprise! It's me, the little mortal freak." There's an edge of something feral in my tone, and in my stance. Ridley and Lena stutter to a stop, pulling John with them.

"Ethan, what are you doing here?" Lena gasps, going white. She's stiff and tense, an unease that seems to radiate from her. Ridley is tense, but maintains an air of nonchalance. John is assessing, waiting and watching. For what, I'm not entirely sure.

I smile, and a dark part of me hopes she's hurting. "Why, i was simply out for a stroll. Wondering you see, about how much I wished I could do something to ease your pain. You obviously aren't in nearly as much pain as I thought if you can stand to be so cruel." Lena makes to say something, mouth opening and I cut her off. "I guess now is as prudent a time to say goodbye as ever. See you in hell, _Sugar_." Without waiting to hear her response, I turn and stalk off. Once I'm out of their sight I let loose a little bit, beginning to run at a pace I shouldn't be able to maintain as a human.

I run all the way home, slowing as I enter the house. Opening the pantry, I look at the paneling that hid the mirror that would lead me home. Pushing it open I swipe my finger across it's width. Flowers boom across the screen, vibrant and large. Without giving myself a moment to think I step through. _Welcome to Wonderland_ is my last thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ethan_:

As I stepped out among the flowers a clamor broke out. Whispers of "_Ethan's back", "What's he doing here?", _and "_What could have made him want to come back now?" _followed him as he strode through the flowers. Screeching to a halt as flowers suddenly blocked his path, Ethan looked up impatiently. The flowers stared down at him before one extended it's leaf, waiting for him to pay the toll.

"If you think I'm paying the toll you're very wrong. Now let me pass, before I make you let me pass." He snarled. Ethan was in no mood to play nice today. Sensing his mood the flowers stepped aside. "Thank you." Ethan nodded.

Striding forward, the ground seemed to give way beneath his feet. In almost no time he was at the door of the Wild and Woolly Court. A pixie darted down to greet him, stopping about a foot in front of him. She was tinted a light green, with long dark hair. Clad in the light blue dress that was traditional wear of her species, she was stunning.

"Master Ethan! What brings you to Wonderland now? Has someone died? Are you all right? You appear distressed! Come sit, tell me what has happened since your mother's death!" She said. It seemed that Glimmer didn't even take a breath in between questions, much less give him time to answer. Taking a moment to gather himself, Ethan let himself be led to a side room and sat on a couch.

With a grim smile Ethan said, "Things haven't been so great Glimmer. I've died, the girl I love left me, my father tried to commit suicide, and something is wrong with me. I think when I died, I left most of my humanity behind. It's been harder to stay in control, to stay human. I'm tired of the fight and I'm tired of being in pain. I've been having weird dreams, and I think I need to die before I'll be myself again. I'm scared Glimmer." By the end of his little speech, Ethan was crying.

"Oh Ethan!" Glimmer cried, "I'm so sorry. You said you died? Tell me all about it on the way to the sisters. We can see if part of your soul has become one of the blooms." Flitting up, she grabbed Ethan's hand and pulled him up. Dragging him out the door, she began to lead the way to the Sisters. I guess we'd finally find out what was wrong with me. There was something wrong. Maybe if I fixed it, I would stop hurting. That's all I wanted, to stop hurting.


End file.
